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Not long after I began teaching yoga, I started noticing subtle things when I was taking class. It didn’t take long to realize that the teachers whose classes I liked the most warmed us up very early in class for specific poses that came later. It felt so good to open the hips early on if we were going to end up in more intense hip-opening postures later in class. I mean, you just know when something feels right in your body.
I hadn’t put a name to this technique, although I recently heard someone call it foreshadowing. That’s how I’ve always taught—from the place that everything I sequence should be intentional. Instead of taking students through the same standard warm-up each class or creating something entirely on the fly, I want to ensure that even these early poses thread into the rest of class and creatively foreshadow where we’re going.
That’s what I do in the following warm-up, which preps students for Side Plank by taking them into less-intense versions of the pose. I also include a funky transition into Shiva Squat. These poses not only warm up students’s bodies but hint at where class will take them. Borrow the warm-up in its entirety or take elements of it and change things up to make it your own.
A Foreshadowing Warm-Up for Side Plank
I find that the more fluid the transitions between poses are, the better they feel in my body. I also use this warm-up as a prelude to Sun Salutation C (Surya Namaskar C). Sometimes I turn it into a creative variation of Sun C by throwing in a vinyasa in between sides.
Standing Forward Bend (Uttanasana)
Start at the top of the mat and find a forward fold. Let your body be heavy and start to take some small organic movement, maybe bending, swaying, or grabbing opposite elbows. Spend some time here and take a moment to look for a new sensation, whether widening your stance, bringing your feet closer together, or sinking your hips lower.
Crooked Monkey
Release your forward fold and take a long step back with your left foot. Find Crooked Monkey by lowering your left knee to the mat, adjusting your right foot out at a bit of an angle, and gently pushing your right thigh away. You can take any loosening movements here.
Modified Side Plank (Vasisthasana)
From Crooked Monkey, pivot your left knee so your left foot comes behind you and your right foot takes a long step toward the back of the mat in a modified Side Plank. Again, you’re looking for loosening movements. You could circle your right wrist or shoulder, sweep your right arm overhead, even lift your right leg and maybe circle your right ankle.
Shiva Squat
From your modified Side Plank, step your right foot forward and keep your right knee bent as you bring your left knee to touch the back of your right knee in a Shiva Squat.
Inhale and extend your left leg back and up into a standing L. Then exhale and crunch again in a Shiva Squat. Inhale, extension. Exhale, crunch.
Low Lunge (Anjaneyasana)
Exhale as you take a long step back with your left leg from Shiva Squat and find a Low Lunge. Take some movement here by bending and straightening your right knee.
Low Lunge Twist
Now lower to your left knee in a Low Lunge and set up for a twist to the right, with your right arm reaching straight behind you and your left hand to your outer right knee.
Come back through center and maybe bind behind your back for some shoulder opening.
Shiva Squat
Release back into your Shiva Squat by shifting your weight into your right foot, returning to standing, and taking your left knee to the back of your right knee. You can bring your hands to the mat or, if you had the bind, play with keeping it as you transition.
Standing Forward Bend
From Shiva Squat, separate your feet on the mat and find a rag doll as you revisit a standing forward fold.
Repeat that foreshadowing sequence on the other side, starting by stepping your right foot back into Crooked Monkey, and continue through Modified Side Plank, Shiva Squat, Low Lunge Twist, Shiva Squat, and a Standing Forward Bend.
